Monday, April 13, 2015

Mike Edwards grew on me over the course of the last few weeks. I wondered whether Edwards could end up as a Frank Kaminsky-type player. Big, rangy kid who gets better and better every year.

It's happened at UGA before. Alec Kessler came in lightly recruited, but gained some weight and was a beast for the Dawgs, averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds per game his senior year, and being named an All-American. And sometimes, every now and then, our good players and role players can whup their 5-stars.

Not the best comparison, but Dave Bliss was a smart kid from a cold climate who during his collegiate career helped the Dawgs recover from NCAA penalties, leading us to the SEC Tournament championship his senior year.

Mike Edwards will hustle, he'll grow and he'll get better, working with Jonas Hayes. Will most likely end up somewhere between Dave Bliss and Alec Kessler in terms of his production, but it will be fun to watch his progress.

In the first week of preseason practice of his freshman year, Richt said David Pollack "was literally crying saying, 'I'm not good enough, coach, I made a mistake, I'm not an SEC player. Coach (Rodney) Garner doesn't like me.' Everything was wrong. He literally was ready to quit. We had to talk him off a cliff and convince him to hang in there."

How about that? Three-Time All-American almost threw in the towel just before he was about to do great things. Easy to see how bad a decision that would have been for Pollack and for the Dawg Nation. But Richt's comments were not about Pollack, and not about something that happened 15 years ago. His remarks were aimed squarely at my chest and yours. Those of us who are facing our own personal mat drills today.

Don't give up on your family. Don't quit in your career. You can lose the weight, write the book, achieve the goal. Keep fighting. Become an All-American in life.